Ghosts and Great Service: Haunted Hotels

October brings pumpkins, crunchy leaves, and scary ghost stories – many of which involve hotels. These hotels are known to be haunted, from ghostly apparitions to bumps in the night. All these hotels stand out in an otherworldly way.

The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO is widely considered to be the hotel that inspired Stephen King’s the Shining. It’s not only terrifying because of King’s story of a man’s descent into madness, but because guests in real life have experienced unsettling events. Travelers have reported the founder’s wife playing haunting melodies on her piano, and the founder himself is rumored to haunt the hotel.

It should come as no surprise that the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, MA has a haunted reputation. Salem is considered one of the most haunted towns in America due to the Salem witch trials. According to multiple guests, a female apparition is rumored to haunt the hallway outside of room 612. Guests have also reported keys going missing and water and lights turning off with no explanation. Ghosts or no ghosts – the rumors keep people interested.

The Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, CO has multiple ghostly apparitions. Guests have reported being escorted to their rooms by an old fashioned railroad conductor complete with a uniform, who vanishes after dropping them off. An employee there also reported seeing a ghostly string quartet (which used to be nightly entertainment at the hotel) and when he asked who they were, one member responded “don’t worry we live here”.

Haunted hotels aren’t for everyone, the scare factor may be too much, but for people looking for a more adventurous hotel experience they could be perfect!